mgpcpastor's blog

I haven’t really had any experiences of genuine terror in my life. Moments of fear and dread, the odd fright, an occasional apprehension. Not any times when I felt my life was in peril or my loved ones were under threat.
So I don’t know how they felt.
Experienced fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot and the others. Men who were used to tough scenes and threatening situations. At sea. In a modest boat. Tempest tossed. Aware of the power without and the frailties within.
They can feel the spray on their faces; fear tastes of salt tonight. The roar of the wind reduces their shouts and cries to a futile mime, a panic stricken voiceless frenetic dance. The waves grab at their vessel. Each of their minds plays out the worst case scenarios.
Swamped.
Shattered.
Swept overboard.
Each conceivable outcome ending in the same certain doom.
The power. The power. The all surrounding, completely overwhelming and unconquerable power.
They cower, feeling no shame in their display of craven surrender. What else would rational men do?

They cry out to the one who sleeps.
Does he not know?
Does he not care?
Would he meet disaster and death without ever waking?

He rises and speaks two rebukes.
The first to hearts that lack faith.
The second to the winds and the waves.

The second rebuke takes effect first. The fury flattens, the deep lies tame and placid.
Human minds struggle to comprehend that which their senses convey.
And then.
The realisation.
All the power they had beheld, all the might that had caused them to shrink had been tamed.
By a greater power.
The power in the boat.
The fear, the awe, the sense of weakness and resignation does not disappear.
If anything it increases.
Their gazes drift from the various points of the compass toward the center.
From outside to inside.
They can but tremble, transfixed in reflective recognition, ‘Who is this that even the wind and waves obey Him?’
The first rebuke takes effect second.
Doubt is gone. It is not just a power to still a creation writhing in tumult. It is a power that undoes unbelief.
They believe; not with clarity, nor with precision: that would come later.
They believe.

(Post 1000, thanks if you’ve taken the time to read any or many.)